Is the good old fashioned scamp dying out? There are still many agencies out there where scamping up ideas is an integral part of the creative process, thankfully I’ve had the pleasure of working in a few. But there seems to be an increasing trend within to jump straight onto a mac and bash out an ad in InDesign or Quark.

The benefit of a scamp over a mac visual is in it’s simplicity. In a scamp, the client is looking at the idea in its simplest form. In a mac visual, the client gets too involved in colour, typeface, imagery and every other aspect of the design that they neglect to simply look at the idea, and can dismiss it at the first stage.

So why do we go straight to mac? It stems from 2 areas. Firstly the client, with design packages becoming increasingly mainstream, the client often sees the mac visual as a simple process, and if the agency cuts out the scamp stage, surely it’s saving them money? Secondly, the problem lies with the creative themselves. With more and more creatives becoming mac literate, it is sometimes the lazy way to go straight to mac, and conceal an average concept with some pretty design work.

From my own experience, the most straightforward creative process has always involved the scamp stage, it can save time in the long run, and therefore also save money for everyone. If you can get a ‘wow’ reaction from a scamp, you’re onto a winner without worrying how it looks.

It would be nice if at the start of every brief creatives opened a layout pad and embraced the chorus of squeaking marker pens, instead of opening a mac book. But only time will tell.

You can’t beat a good negative space logo. It gives the identity an extra level, and gives the viewer that “smile in the mind” when you see the second image. Some are more obvious than others.

My favourite is still the FedEx logo by Lindon Leader back in 1994 while at Landor Associates. The beauty is the creation of the arrow within the negative space, seemingly without having to adapt the letterforms. In reality Lindon Leader did have to adapt the typeface to create the perfect arrow, but you’d never know. Below are some brilliant negative space logos, including the FedEx one.

A wise creative director once told me, “don’t give a client what they want, give them what they thought they could never have.” Wise words indeeed, unfortunately with this logo, the client just didn’t want it. I’m still a fan though.